On November 9, 2021, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum issued a report stating that the Chinese government may be committing genocide against the Uyghurs, the Muslim community based in northwestern China. The report details multiple crimes against humanity that Beijing is committing against the Uyghur population including forced sterilization, sexual violence, enslavement, torture, forcible transfer, persecution, and imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty. The report amplified concerns already expressed by United States government statements regarding the treatment of the Uyghurs, and the subject continued to be a matter of urgent international attention in the wake of a report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in August. On November 8, 2022, the American Academy in Berlin hosted Naomi Kikoler, director of the Simon Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences for a discussion of the report, whose production she oversaw, and an update on the plight of the Uyghurs. Kikoler is one of the world’s foremost authorities on mass atrocity prevention and international human rights advocacy and human rights law. Following Kikoler’s talk: a panel discussion on the subject of German foreign policy, China, and the Uyghurs featuring Volker Stanzel, former German Ambassador to China and Japan, and senior distinguished fellow at the German Institute for Foreign and Security Affairs (SWP); and Noah Barkin, visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, managing editor with Rhodium Group’s China practice.

In cooperation with the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences